Posts Tagged ‘golf’

On the other hand I generally DESPISE the people who play golf. I don’t know about you, but the only place I know of where you can still openly hear men making ethnic and racist jokes is the country club. I’m talking full-on slurs of women and minorities.

Country clubs are the last bastian of racism in America. Therefore people who grow up in that atmosphere are oblivious to the social norms of most others. They think nothing of slurring minorities and women. Not only do country club members do it on a regular basis but they THINK in those terms. Country clubs are inherently racist. That’s why when a guy like Fuzzy Zoeller looks at Tiger Woods he doesn’t see a great golfer. He automatically thinks of “fried chicken and collard greens.”

Now you can add Italians to the list of ethnic groups slurred by PGA announcers. Awful Announcing reports that NBC announcer Johnny Miller has been forced to apologize “for comments that appeared to reflect negatively on the Italian heritage” of golfer Rocco Mediate.

During NBC’s U.S. Open coverage, Miller referred to Mediate as “a pool guy” and said, “guys with the name of Rocco don’t get on the trophy, do they?”

The apology was the result of a letter written to NBC by the head of the National Italian American Foundation. He wrote,

“We are certain that NBC and Mr. Miller meant no harm and was simply having some fun at the expense of Italian Americans. Nonetheless, this type of humor is problematic as it reinforces a demeaning and damaging stereotype about an entire ethnic group.”

My position on golf has always been I like the sport but generally DESPISE the people associated with it. In general, the sport has been associated with decades (if not centuries) of segregation, racism, sexism and elitism.

Golf’s answer to diversity has always been a guy like Phil Mickelson. He’s left-handed.

White golfers are so ingrained into racist thinking and attitudes that they often make off-handed comments under the guise of “humor” that % 99 of us would find offensive.

The most recent example of this happened during this week’s coverage of the Master’s. Following in the proud footsteps of Fuzzy Zoeller, CBS broadcaster, Bobby Clampett, used the phrase “Chinaman” in referring to golfer, Liang Wen-Chong.

Clampett has since apologized for the slur. His comments follow Kelly Tilghman’s tirade on the Golf Channel where she observed if young players want to beat Tiger Woods they should “lynch him in a back alley.” Tilghman was suspended briefly for the remark but is already back to work.

Certainly a sport with the racial history of the PGA should be more selective in its announcers and not tolerate such outbursts.

CBS announcer Jim Nantz frequently talks about how much classier golf in general and Augusta National in particular are than other sports and other venues, and Nantz has even criticized Woods for cursing on the course. How does he feel about one of his colleagues using a slur?

SPORTSbyBROOKS has the story that Wie is going out with one of Stanford’s famed Lopez twins. Robin Lopez (not his brother Brook) is the object of Wie’s affection. The two are reportedly “trying to keep things as quiet as possible.”

In it, the author noted, “I think it’s no coincidence that the greatest golfer in the history of the universe has a Buddhist mother.” The article also quoted Woods as being (somewhat) a practitioner of Buddhism,

“I believe in Buddhism,” Woods has said. “Not every aspect, but most of it. So I take bits and pieces. I don’t believe that human beings can achieve ultimate enlightenment, because humans have flaws.”

This past weekend Woods put in a performance that was neither Zen nor Gandhi-like. Losing his first tournament of the year, Woods became visibly angered at people trying to take his picture. Finally, he snapped, shouting,

“The next time a photographer shoots an [expletive] picture,” Woods warned, “I’m going to break his [expletive] neck.”